In a plain, beige office with a window looking out onto the Altgeld Hall bell tower, a wall is decorated with a poster that says "learning never ends," and a desk runs against a wall with a few family photos, a framed copy of the Native American Ten Commandments and a paperback copy of Black Power On Campus.

The fifth floor Swanlund Administration Building office belongs to Clarence Shelley, legendary organizer of 1968's Project 500. The project successfully set out to get 500 black students admitted to the University that year.

"He is a phenomenal person," said graduate student Sheri Shaw, who has been mentored by Shelley since her freshman year at the University in 1997. "He's a great resource for any information you need to know about this campus. He's just a friendly ear."

But Shelley's list of accomplishments doesn't just include Project 500 and being a good listener. He was a former dean of students and associate vice chancellor. He was also the recipient of the third-ever Chancellor's Medallion in 2002 for his 33 years of service at the University. Today, he serves as a part-time adviser to the chancellor.

Shelley is also a struggling amateur gardener.

"I'm trying to learn to garden, but my patience doesn't accommodate to that sort of thing," Shelley said. "This weekend, I'm going to a concert and I'll watch a lot of football."

Shelley is wearing a lime green polo shirt and khakis. His left wrist sports a gold watch, and his right a bracelet. A thin gold chain drapes around his neck.

Lynn Schaefer, Shelley's secretary of two years, said he is always "very well dressed."

"He's very friendly, very cooperative and so knowledgeable that you're amazed," she added.

After Shaw got her degree, she moved to Los Angeles but returned to the University a year later. "He's one of the reasons why I came back," she said. "Students look to him more like a father figure, not just someone in administration with a title."

Shaw also set up the Clarence Shelley Scholarship Program, which provides two $500 scholarships each year through the Black Greek Council.

Although Shelley is 72 years old and married with two grown daughters, he continues to stay busy attending alumni weddings and social functions, as well as doing projects for the University.

"I am technically retired," Shelley said with a chuckle. "I think I'll stay here as long as I still have my wits."

Shelley is working on a commemorative Project 500 remembrance, as well as an ongoing program recognizing the 50th anniversary of the monumental Brown v. Board of Education case.

"I'm working on trying to improve the relationship of our minority alumni and the campus," Shelley said.

The Project 500 events will take place in early October and one of the events will be a re-creation of the walk black students made from Illinois Street Residence Halls to the Union. Research projects, lectures, a seminar series, art exhibits, performances, community workshops, panel discussions and other scholarly and creative works focusing on various aspects of Brown v. Board are currently taking place around campus.

Shelley taps his fingers on his desk and stares at his computer screen while answering questions in a low voice.

While working on "special assignments" with the chancellor, he always tries to help students "confront issues that are less academic and more ethical, personal, social."

Shelley also has a touch of the writing bug. He contributed to the book A History of Black Power on the University Campus from 1965-1975, and is also a published poet.

"I'm working on revising some poetry, but that takes time," Shelley said.

If you see Shelley on campus, be sure to be on the way to the library, and to have your books with you. Shaw says he's always checking on students and reminding them not to "take anything for granted, because it wasn't always like this."

Although his list of achievements is sure to grow with the Project 500 commemorative events and the 50th year Brown v. Board celebration, Shelley remains a grounded and devoted family man.

Shelley's lists his greatest accomplishment in life as "watching my daughters grow up into real women."

Shaw admitted, "I joke around and call him my 'dad on campus,' because I always want to make him proud."